Epothilone is a novel natural cytotoxic compound produced by myxobacteria as a new cytotoxic active component stabilizing microtubules (See Gerth, K, et. al., J. Antibiot. 49: 560-563 (1966)). It is biologically similar to paclitaxel which has significant antineoplastic activity on various solid tumors of human beings. That is, epothilone induces tubulin-polymers to form a super stable state one, inhibits mitosis, and thereby suppresses reproduction of tumor cells in a manner similar to paclitaxel.
Epothilones are superior to paclitaxel-based medicines in sources, synthesis methods, hydrophilicity, antineoplastic activity, antitumor spectrum and so on. In addition, epothilones, preferably epothilone A and most preferably epothilone B, have various advantages than current therapies, particularly the treatment using paclitaxel which has induced drug tolerance of tumors. Therefore, as a novel antitumor drug, epothilones are deemed as a promising candidate to replace paclitaxel with great market potential. The structures of epothilones B and A are shown below.

Since the antineoplastic activity of epothilones has been discovered in 1995, epothilones have been widely and deeply investigated from many aspects including chemistry, biology, medicine, pharmacy and so on, and certain results have been obtained.
With the advancement of research, there is an increasing need for epothilones with a high purity. Thus, how to separate and purify epothilones becomes an urgent problem to be solved. Many works have been made in China and oversea on epothilones, particularly processes for separation and purification of epothilones B and A. Chinese Patent No. ZL01820141.5, for example, discloses a method of separation and purification of epothilones, wherein desorption of epothilones, particularly epothilone A and/or epothilone B from a resin is disclosed. Chinese Patent No. ZL02110067.5 relates to a method of separation and purification of epothilones from fermentation broth of myxobacteria, wherein it discloses that technical means including adsorption by mixed resins, solid-liquid stepwise extraction, molecular sieve chromatography, crystallization and HPLC, etc are used to separate and obtain epothilones from fermentation broth of myxobacteria. In Chinese Patent No. ZL99803121.6, RP-HPLC is disclosed as a method used to purify epothilones B and A, while in patent No. CN03822662.6, normal HPLC is used to separate epothilones B and A.
Current techniques mainly use preparative chromatographic columns to separate and purify epothilones B and A, which not only need expensive apparatuses, but also consume a great amount of methanol or acetonitrile, with only a limited amount of product obtained in one time.